Replace
by garaXxXhinata69
Summary: Ino points out how Sai looks like Sasuke. When Naruto is falling apart can Sai play the part to fix him? Sometimes you don't understand how great someone is until the last. Sad/based off A Tale of Two Cities


_Based of TOTC. _

_Its kinda choppy?_

_enjoy~_

* * *

"Hey Sakura, doesn't Sai look a lot like Sasuke-kun?" The bright blonde girl stared from across the table. Her blue eyes fell down on me, turning around the edges of my face.

I could see an uneasy expression flicker over Sakura's face, quickly replaced by a light smile. She didn't look at me.

I wondered what that meant, pushing at the rice in front of me.

"Uh, yeah. I guess," she replied to the girl slowly, picking up a piece of meat with her chopsticks. The blonde, Ino, I remembered, didn't seem to like Sakura's unenthusiastic response. Her cheeks puffed out in anger. Or fake anger. I didn't know the difference, but I was pretty sure people could fake anger.

"God Sakura, I just said his freaking name. No need to die on me," I felt her tone change a little; she glanced at me for a second, "Plus, it's kind of interesting, that Sasuke's replacement looks so much like him. I might have to win his heart too!"

I grinned back at the girl as her eyes fluttered at me. It seemed like the right thing to do, even though my mouth was stiff and weak.

There it had been again. "Sasuke's replacement". That's what they called me. It wasn't my name, the name Danzo had given me, but it was my title here. Did that mean it was my nickname? Were they trying to be friendly?

Sasuke's replacement. Why did it seem like everything I had had been his already? Even my face.

Sakura's lips curled into a smile at the girl's fluttering eyelashes. She and the girl started to bicker with smiles still stuck on. It was something I couldn't understand. Another thing I couldn't understand. I didn't know if I should join in as well, so I kept to silent observation at Sakura's side. I should learn how to smile like that sometime.

The conversation passed on again to other things.

I remained quiet, continuing a smile, pretending to pay attention. I stopped trying to analyze the two's foreign gestures. Watching them was making me get heavier. I wasn't sure how that was possible, but I was almost positive that it was happening.

The space between me and them was slowly getting wider, even though it didn't really. They sat only inches away from me.

This was one feeling I'd actually gotten used to. Separation, walls, distance. They were putting up a paper screen without even realizing it. It was thick enough to block me out, but translucent enough for me to see the edges of things I could never be part of. Friendly, nostalgic, inside jokes, shared laughter.

It seemed to be like that with everyone here, everywhere I went. Was it because I wasn't him? Because I was the dull spare kunai they kept in their boots, the one they were only using because the sharp one had been lost.

But at least I _looked_ like a kunai.

I faced myself in the bowl of miso soup before me.

Two dark pools surrounded by empty white skin. It was blank. I saw nothingness. A space filled with everything you expected. A mouth, a nose, eyes, ears, lips.

Is this what Sasuke looked like?

The one they chased after. The one they believed in. The one whose name made them cry and laugh.

My chest somehow started to burn, glaring blankly at my reflection.

I wondered what that meant.

* * *

Everything was gray today.

His blue eyes were gray, staring out the window of my apartment.

I wanted to do something, maybe try one of the gestures Sakura had taught me. Should I place my hand on his shoulder? Ruffle his hair? Nothing seemed right in the room's quiet, so I just stood by my door, trying to see the face that was turned away from me.

Slowly and surely, my stomach was falling away from my heart. Or was it my heart that was falling? I didn't know. Probably, nothing was falling at all. I wondered if Naruto felt something falling too.

That made me fall more.

I knew why he'd come here. I was the first to know what had happened. It had been coldly announced in a root meeting the day before; and after it, I didn't know how to act. I couldn't tell him, because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to use the right words, or find any words. But he knew now. Someone else had found the words.

Naruto turned away from the gray sky's view in a heavy tilt.

"He caught me when I fell," a shaking voice, "Off the waterfall."

I stepped toward him. His voice hurt my chest. He was rusted and cold. A shadow had washed out the colors of his face. It didn't look like him. Where had the brightness gone?

Somehow I'd expected this. I didn't know much about emotions or people, but I knew about Naruto. When I stood next to him, my senses became…more alive. He was the only one really, who could make me feel. I had known how much it would hurt him.

"He told me to run, you know? So he could protect us."

What was he saying? I couldn't grasp it, but I listened. It was about _him_, of course. He just wanted someone to hear him. I stood like an empty canvas before him. I would let him splatter paint on me until he stopped, or throw me away if I was unneeded

I'd predicted Naruto would come here eventually. He always came here to say things, to share things with me. All of his smiles and tears and screams and laughter. Even If I couldn't understand at first; because I could just be there.

He was the only one, I think, who'd heard my laugh. He was the only one who saved me; who could fix me. Because he was amazing. And yet, he was crumpled before me, cracking.

"On the bridge." Naruto started murmuring.

His body snapped, and he lunged forward. In a rush of broken force, he closed the gap between us, grabbing my shoulders. Ice was in my throat. I wanted to look away, but I knew he needed me to face him.

Rain fell from the storm in his eyes.

"He died for me! He died! I saw him do it!" Naruto screamed in my ears. "I just watched him fall! I didn't do anything!"

He huffed and breathed, not noticing how badly his body was shaking, not caring. I'd only seen glimpses of this before, underneath the blonde's mask. I think I shivered a little, witnessing it like this.

After a few minutes of standing across from one another, the convulsions stopped. Everything in Naruto's face stopped. He had let go of my shoulders, and I stared at something worse than before.

He looked down at my floor.

"I can't break the promise."

I tried placing my hand gently on his shoulder.

I might not have substantial emotions, but I was someone who could understand Naruto the best. If the one who saved me tried to kill me, I would never stop chasing him.

If he was sentenced to death, I would be like this too.

* * *

Powerful Chakra was approaching the apartment from all directions. Of course, Danzo had thought to restrain Naruto in this situation. Naruto was probably expecting it too, even in this broken state.

He would go try to break Sasuke loose, even though it'd be impossible. Sasuke was locked away in a Konohana prison, guarded by seals of the five kages. Things like that never deterred Naruto though, a fool who never gave up.

But Danzo knew that. He'd make sure nothing happened.

In a month's time, the Uchiha would be dead.

Naruto would have to live with that.

* * *

I sat on the stone bench. It was so sturdy, so strong. It'd always been there for me. My little stone bench that held me when I hurt.

Approaching Footsteps, coming toward my spot shook me from my daze. That was Funny. I'd just been thinking about footsteps that walked _away_.

I looked up, to find a pale raven-haired figure standing before me. For a moment, my heart jumped. But, then I examined it more carefully, and my shoulders relaxed. He came over to sit beside me.

"Hey Sai," I chimed, "I could barely recognize you with that long hair. You've been away on that mission for such a long time!"

He smiled a thin smile. I secretly hated his new look. With just a little gel, they would be the same person. Didn't Sai realize that no one wanted to think about the Uchiha right now? But he had been gone with that solo mission. He'd probably been too busy to cut his hair. Did he even realize that today was the eve of the execution?

"Hello Sakura. I was wondering If I could talk to you about something?" the smile didn't waver from his face. I wondered if I should explain to him how it's impolite to show happiness during times of death.

"Sure, go ahead," I replied.

A new expression came over Sai's face as he started to speak. I wondered who taught it to him. It looked strangely peaceful. Again, completely wrong for the circumstance.

"Tomorrow, me and Naruto are going to go on a trip to the Wave Country, but I don't want Danzo Samma to know about it. So I was wandering if you would keep me and Naruto's travel papers, and give them back tomorrow morning."

I stared at him in confused silence.

"D-did you see Naruto? But he's been in his room since—" I cut myself off. Naruto did like to talk to Sai. And Sai cared about him, as much as anyone that emotionally stunted could. If Sai had been able to make her team mate want to leave his room, then she wouldn't do anything against it. Maybe it would be better for him to be gone when Sasuke's sentence was carried out.

"Sure Sai. Just hand them over, and I'll have them at his apartment tomorrow morning." I picked up an envelope that the dark boy mysteriously pulled out from his back pocket. "Just one thing though. I think you should cut your hair before seeing Naruto again. It might, you know--"

A bright, toothy smile lifted from his lips.

"Don't worry Sakura. The person you see tomorrow's hair will be cut."

I blinked, slowly nodding as Sai pushed himself up from my stony bench. Such a beautiful face, a gleaming sun in the dark. I hadn't seen it since the early days of team seven.

Could it be? Had Naruto taught Sai how to smile like that?

* * *

The village was so small. I could cover the hokage tower in my palm. At least, from up here I could.

The wind was so strong here. Strong winds, moving trees and eroding rock away. But did people hear the wind moan? Hear its suffering?

I did, I thought, while standing on top the great hokages' statues.

From far away, they looked spectacular and grand, but up close, you could see their great age and abuse. There were scars from old graffiti etched even where I stood; old paint and carvings.

"Sasuke is a teme."

I think I knew who wrote that one.

Naruto had come here often. He always bragged about the great pranks he'd pulled on the statues. But I'd seen him standing where I stood right now, his hair blowing, the wind at his finger tips, the sun lighting up his skin. He'd look at the blue sky, challenging it to knock him down. He'd look at the world, like a dream.

I wondered what Naruto thought about when he stood here.

I wanted those thoughts to become true.

* * *

Everything was black, so black.

A boy with charcoal hair and a brooding face laid on a futon in his pentagon shaped cell. A seal marking each wall, one seal for every village, every Kage. It had taken all five of them to trap him here. If Gaara hadn't been forced to do it, it wouldn't have been strong enough, and he would have escaped.

But there was no escape. Sasuke knew he was going to die in the morning.

He'd laid here, re-imagining his life. All the turns it had taken, all the climbs and falls. Had he fallen? Someone had said that to him before. Kakashi?

Mom, Dad, Itachi, faces, faces, people, people, people, Kakashi, Sakura, faces, faces, people, people, people, Gaara, Lee, Orochimaru, faces, faces, people, people, people, Karin, Suigetsu, Juugo, Tobi---and

There was a sound.

Was it time already?

Sasuke lifted his head from the futon. Standing on the side of one of the walls stood another boy, about the same age as him, dressed in formal Konoha anbu gear. He carried a tray of food in his hand.

Only a few people had crossed the barrier into Sasuke's cell before, mostly Danzo and his minions. Even with his power completely gone, his physical strength was something to be worried about.

"Is this my final meal or something? I'm not hungry," he stated to the boy by the wall. He'd hoped to get him to leave, but his hard words had no effect. He took steps towards Sasuke.

The plate of food clattered to the floor, glass shattering. The boy had simply let it fall from his fingers.

What was he doing? The raven sat up.

"Hello, Sasuke," a familiar voice rang, "I need you to do some things for me."

Sasuke stared at the boy in front of him, who was removing his mask.

The revealed face was pale, with black hair and black eyes. He'd seen this boy before, with Orochimaru. He was the one who'd blocked his sword. He was the one who'd replaced him on team seven.

"Why would I do anything for you?" the Uchiha responded coldly. The boy's expression was unwavering.

In movements that flew past his question, the boy starting lifting of his shirt. A kunai tucked at the hem of his pants was thrown at Sasuke's head.

The raven instinctively caught it.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"It's okay Sasuke. Just put my clothes on, and cut you're hair. You remember me at Orochimaru's lair? Make it look like that," the boy spoke calmly, smoothly. Sasuke almost couldn't grasp the words.

It only took a second for the Uchiha to understand though. This boy…

Black eyes bore into black, locked in a gaze, holding an unexplainable question, an unexplainable answer.

All the tenseness and anger built up in Sasuke seemed to fall away.

"It will never work. They'll know. They've blocked most of my chakra, but they can still read my signature. It's not worth it."

The boy smiled at him, a free and bright smile, "I spent the past month working on a technique to perfectly copy your chakra signature. I have everything figured out; you just have to follow my instructions."

Sasuke's face hardened.

"I don't even know you. Why would you do this? What's in it for you if you die?"

Once more, a free and warm smile. The boy placed a hand on the Uchiha's shoulder. He flinched back, but didn't shake it off.

"Promise me Sasuke, that you won't leave him again. Promise me that you'll make him happy, that you'll heal him. You're the only one who can." The boy's smile grew brighter. "I never could do anything for him, until now. So please. Let me do this."

Sasuke stared at the boy, his fists unclenched, lost in these eyes. They connected in a line of black and white, two boys who seemed so alike.

It took a long moment. A hundred decisions and promises had been made in that one locked gaze.

The Uchiha moved, taking the kunai in his hand. Black strings floated to the ground. His face was strained, not leaving the boy before him. The warm smile never fell from the other's lips. They both silently exchanged clothing.

And there they stood, completely switched.

The boy, now dressed as a prisoner, placed two hands on one of the walls, making a series of motions. A light glow poured from his fingers. A space in the stone opened up. A door.

Sasuke stepped hesitantly toward it. Reaching it, he turned back around facing himself. Who he was only minutes ago. With the same fate he'd had, only minutes ago.

"It should have been you. He should have loved you."

A smile as bright as the sun.

Glowing pale hands pushed him out the door.

"It's okay. I'm you're replacement."

* * *

They say that Sasuke became cleansed the day he died, all of his sins had been washed away. When he stood before the village at his execution, his face was held in utter peace and happiness.

* * *

_Thanks for reading :)_

_I'm contemplating on writing something that shows everone's reactions to Sai's sacrifice, but idk..._

_A review would mean the world._


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